Steven Broersma, the team's best scorer, was in foul trouble. Tim De Vries, the team's only senior, took an elbow to the face and was in and out of the game with a nosebleed.

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Sunnyside Christian absorbed other shots too, Saturday night, delivered in the form of hard-nosed competition from St. John-Endicott during the Class 1B state title game in the SunDome.

At the end, however, the Knights were still standing.

Especially Steven Bosma, their steel-nerved point guard, who allowed himself an oh-so-slight grin after missing a free throw with his team 3.1 seconds away from its 49-43 victory.

"It almost felt good to miss that one," the 5-foot-11 junior said while awaiting his turn on the postgame net-cutting ladder. "But that didn't stop me from making the next one."

Or five of the previous six, which decisively swung things Sunnyside Christian's way in a see-saw game and sent third-ranked SC home with its 18th straight win and the school's sixth state championship.

Among the three 1B crowns won by Sunnyside Christian during the tournament's four-year existence, none came tougher than this one -- Ryker Van Belle's 2008 shot-heard-round-the-state notwithstanding.

"I knew it was going to be like this," coach Dean Wagenaar said as his players rushed to greet their families and friends on the court's perimeter. "I give a great deal of credit to St. John-Endicott for their toughness and their discipline, and there's a reason they're whatever they are (13-5) since they got the Miller kid (Warren) back. He's a stud -- an absolute stud."

A talented 6-4 senior, Miller recorded game-high totals of 23 points and nine rebounds despite a heavy brace protecting a surgically-repaired right knee that had caused him to miss SJE's first 10 games.

After the Knights (23-3) had taken a 15-7 advantage, Miller started them back with a field goal and, just before halftime, canned a 3-pointer to bring the Eagles within 21-20.

He added two free throws early in the third quarter for a 24-21 SJE lead. And with 6:14 to play Miller scored a layup off an under-the-basket inbounds pass and sent Broersma to the bench with his fourth foul.

Despite only 21:04 of floor time due to personals, the 6-6 Broersma managed 10 points and five rebounds in support of 11 points each from Bosma and Trevor Wagenaar.

SC, unable to find an offensive rhythm against Eagles' coach Rick Winters' man-to-man defense, trailed 32-28 late in the third quarter, but got crucial hoops from Wagenaar, De Vries and Kevin De Jong to hang in.

De Jong's inside hoop off a Bosma feed pushed SC to a 38-34 edge with 4:38 to play, but Miller's basket at 2:16 tied it at 40.

Broersma muscled a shot home through a forest of arms at 1:42, however, and after De Jong rebounded an errant Miller three, Bosma began his pressure free throw clinic.

After making one of two at 1:07, he ran down a loose ball and was fouled again seven seconds later. This time Bosma made both for a 45-40 Knights lead.

SJE's Ben Harrison connected on a deep 3-pointer with 45 seconds left, but Bosma again was fouled and made two at 0:35. Broersma, sent to the line after another Eagle miss was deflected out of bounds to Sunnyside Christian, made one of two for a 48-43 cushion with 27 seconds remaining.

He then rebounded one miscast by SJE (16-12), and wisely got the ball to Bosma for something of a curtain call.

Asked his formula for success, Bosma paused and said, "You've just gotta get your legs into it. After that, it's all mental. You have to be mentally tough."

Physically, too.

"Our trainer says my nose might be broken," said De Vries, who kept statistics as an SC freshman and rode the bench as a sophomore. "It still hurts."

But not as much, obviously, as if the Knights had lost.

"It's hard," Wagenaar said. "It's hard to win state championships. And I'll tell you, we earned this one. Steven Bosma was rock solid, De Jong worked so hard inside and Ryker came up with some big steals.

"And despite all that, Warren Miller put that team on his back and almost took them all the way home."

The Eagles might have made it, too, had it not been for Bosma's poise and his teammates' perseverance.